Dniepropetrovsk National University of Railway Transport named after Academician V. Lazaryan (DIIT) is a higher educational institution of the 4th (maximum) level of state accreditation in Ukraine. It was founded in 1930 as the Institute of Railway Transport Engineers.

During the years of its existence, the University has trained about 60 thousand specialists (including citizens of other countries) for railway transport, transport construction, machine-building and other engineering branches of the national economy. Many scientific schools well-known in Ukraine and far beyond its borders have been formed at the University in this period. Among our graduates are the leading figures in many branches of industry, heads of railway administrations, plants, educational, design and R&D institutions and other organizations.

Administration Staff of THE DNIEPROPETROVSK NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF RAILWAY TRANSPORT named after Academician V. Lazaryan.

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The academic buildings and R&D laboratories, a library with more than 810 thousand volumes, the teaching staff residential houses, 6 students' hostels, a canteen, a policlinic, a Palace of Culture, a stadium and other social and life facilities are located on 30 hectares of the University campus.

Studies and research activities are being carried out in two academic buildings with a total area of 55,000 sq. m. Moreover here there are structures with laboratories of various profiles including the following: the Centrifugal Simulation Lab with unique equipment in Ukraine, the Soil Mechanics Lab, the Lab for Heat Engines, the Electric Rolling Stock Lab; industrial training workshops, a sports building, an outdoor swimming pool, etc. are also placed at the campus. This area equals to 8,787 sq. m. The University computing center equipped with advanced computer facilities occupies the territory of 1,222 sq. m.

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During recent years the laboratories at the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, Human Activity Safety, Applied Mechanics, Traffic Control and Electric Rolling Stock have been updated substantially. In 1997 the academic premises with the overall area of 2,150 sq. m have been built. Six hostels satisfy in full the need in accommodation of non-local students including married ones.

The sports complex that comprises a riverside-based station, a stadium, a swimming pool and a gymnasium with halls for weight lifting, wrestling, gymnastics and sports games provides the great opportunities for physical training.

There are an assembly hall, a dance hall, a cinema and premises for amateur art activities at students' Palace of Culture. In total the University has 215 buildings and structures on its balance.

The DIIT social infrastructure guarantees good working and living conditions for students and employees of the University and meets all the people needs.
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In the DIIT there are 8,000 students in 15 professional areas covering 20 specialties. All the University graduates are provided with job appointments on the Ukrainian Railways, at industrial and other enterprises as well as in research institutions.

In the University the studies are provided by 550-people academic staff including 12 Academy Fellows, 10 Associate Members of branch academies, 50 Professors, Doctors of Sciences, and 250 Associate Professors, Candidates of Sciences. 52 persons are Laureates of the State and Personal Prizes or have the Titles of Honorary Researchers, Transport or Higher School Workers.

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The University carries out the regular and reserve officers for railway military troops and military communications units of the Army of Ukraine.

The University has 2 Education-Methodic-Research Centers in Lviv (daytime and extramural faculties) and Odessa (extramural only), 20 chair subsidiaries in Dniepropetrovsk and beyond its borders where new specialists deepen their professional skills, as well as 30 centers at large railway junctions in Ukraine where school-leavers are trained to become our students.

The Foreign Languages Department (DIIT) is registered by the examination center City & Guilds Pitman Qualifications.

The Pitman Qualifications exams are being conducted at the DIIT, evaluated in London, UK and can be taken into consideration on the job market in educational institutions and professional associations worldwide.

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The Institute of Post-diploma Education at the DIIT (IPE) has a license of the Ministry of Education and Science. 956 specialists have upgraded their skills during 2002. Besides the seminars have been conducted in the following fields:

design and maintenance of the new Ukrainian-German electric locomotive DS-3.

A specialty-focused program of upgrading qualification is being elaborated in advance and approved by a customer for every group of specialists. In order to improve the system of selecting the management staff and searching the promising candidates for leading positions, the related research work has been performed and the practical recommendations on using the key personnel reserve of the Prydniprovs'ka Regional Railways have been prepared.

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The scientific schools well known both in Ukraine and abroad have been formed at the University. There are 16 branch research laboratories working on their base. They take part in performing many State and Branch Programs.

The issues of speed and high-speed traffic were studied by the DIIT scholars as early as 70-ies of 20th century. They are as follows: the SVL locomotive trials resulted in achieving the speed of 250 kph (1972) on the section Novomoskovsk-Dnieprodzerzhinsk of the Prydniprovs'ka Regional Railways; lay-out design of the high-speed special-purpose trunk line Moscow-South; the DIIT research results within the framework of Programs of the Ministry of Railways "Speed", "Acceleration" and others. The University researchers conduct a scientific support of the high-speed traffic on main sections of Ukrainian railways, the design of high-speed rolling stock, the electrification and renewal of the track and artificial structures.

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The University is a leading body in the issues of train traffic safety, prolongation of service life of tractive rolling stock, in which our staff performs the related investigations. The University takes a main part in design and test activities on the Ukrainian electric locomotives DE-1 and DS-3. We develop and introduce energy-saving technologies and locomotive driver's simulators for Ukrainian and foreign railways. The University has developed and implemented efficient methods of reducing the extra normative wear of rails and rolling stock wheels.

The University in cooperation with the Car-Building Concern "Kryukov Vagon Zavod" designs the running gears of new generation for freight cars and passenger coaches. Theoretical methods of high-reliable unified semiconductor devices with sealed contacts for railway rolling stock have been elaborated. And now this equipment is in production. The recommendations have been made for determination of operating resource of passenger coach bodies renovated at the Dniepropetrovsk Car Repair Plant according to the Spanish technology. The concept of environment friendly rolling stock has been suggested. The R&D projects devoted to improvement of conditions of the track, bridges and other artificial structures are being carried out with using advanced materials and technologies of concreting.

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Since 1997 the University experts take part in activities of the permanent Commissions of the Organization for Railways Cooperation on transport policies, environmental problems, combined transportations, railways operation and complex problems of transport. The profile Commission for Surface Transport of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce is established on the University basis. Also the University is a member of the International Transport Academy and our Rector, Prof. Olexandr M. Pshin'ko heads it's Ukrainian Branch.

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In the DIIT there are 2 Specialized Academic Councils for defending doctoral and candidate dissertations (each in two specialties): D 08.820.01 - the Railway Track (05.22.06) and the Electric Transport (05.22.09); D 08.820.02 - the Railway Rolling Stock and Train Traction (05.22.07) and the

Operation and Repair of Transportation Facilities (05.22.20). The research and academic staff preparation is being performed at the University Post-graduate Courses (15 specialties) and Doctoral Fellowships (6 specialties).

The Wagon Test Laboratory and the Rolling Stock Test Laboratory have got an accreditation for technical competence and independence in the Ukrainian State Certification System (UkrSEPRO). The Branch Research Laboratory (BRL) "Environmental Protection on Railway Transport" has the related branch accreditation. The BRL of Artificial Structures has a license of the Dniepropetrovsk Region State Administration in the field of civil engineering activities. In 2002 the University has obtained the Certificate of the Railway Transport Council of the CIS countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia for the right of performing the expert inspection and technical diagnostics of freight and refrigerator cars in order to determine the residual resource and to make a decision on possibility of prolongation of their service life. In 2003 the University Test Center has been accredited in the Railway Register of the Russian Federation for conducting certification tests.

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Projects on reconstruction of railway transition stations at the Western borders of Ukraine as well as introduction of the advanced technologies of freight and passenger transportation through international transport corridors are being performed together with the Polish partners. A trial trip of contrailer train on the route Lugans'k- Katowice-Kyiv has been conducted in cooperation with the Polish National Railways. The driver's simulators for different types of locomotives are being designed and manufactured for Iran. More than once the "General Electric" Company has invited the University specialists to Cairo for testing American locomotives by order of the Egyptian

National Railways, and the Holding "Wabtec Corp. - Cardwell Westinghouse" (USA) has welcome them to make the expertise of draft friction gears and other products it outputs.

Agreements on cooperation between the DIIT and a number of enterprises and institutions of Poland (DEC, CNTK, Chem Trans Logistik, KAMAX), Iran (the Presidency Technological Cooperation Office - TCO, the Iranian Railways Research Center, the Iran University of Science & Technology) and France (the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Nantes and St. Nazaire) have been concluded.

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The DIIT scholars are being trained in well-known transnational corporations - the A.R.C., Inc. and the Water Works Global Inc. Every year the Canadian instructors from the School of Business, the University of Western Ontario conduct at our University the courses in business administration. Lectures on the Market Economy and its Basic Components are being delivered by French Professor Jean-Pierre Prost, the State Counselor on Foreign Trade. The programs of regular student and post-graduate exchange between the University and the Higher School of Management and Commerce (Saint Nazaire, France), the Warsaw, Cracow and Silesian Universities of Technology (Poland) as well as the Dresden Technical University (Germany) are under realization. Foreign specialists, students and post-graduates from Europe and Asia have our University fellowships and upgrade their qualification here. The group of engineers from the Iranian Railways has passed the course on repair and operation of Ukrainian freight cars.

The University takes part in the European Programs TEMPUS TACIS and EUREKA. The DIIT researchers have won a few grants awarded by the INTAS (Euro Union), the German Academic Exchange Agency DAAD, two American foundations - the STCU (Science and Technology Center in Ukraine) and the CRDF (Civilian Research and Development Foundation). The University organizes regularly on its own base international conferences, symposia, and seminars in the key problems of transport, economics and other fields of human knowledge. The academic and research staff of our University participates permanently in activities of conferences and exhibitions held in Russia, USA, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Iran, China, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, former Yugoslavia, Turkey, Estonia, Latvia and so on.